I have to start this post by saying that I am typing while lying on my stomach. It is the most wonderful feeling in the world! :) It really is one of the things I disliked the most about being pregnant. Couldn't relax in that position...

Anyway... Kaiya is in bed asleep. Kaleb is in bed asleep. Ahhhh... Peace & quiet. We should probably be asleep too, but Tony's watching a movie and I thought I would play on the computer for a little while.

We went to the pediatrician yesterday. He hated it. :) Nothing too exciting to report... everything checked out okay. After that appointment we headed over to the Birth Place for my 72-hr visit.

This is Jennie Joseph, the founder of the Birth Place and the midwife who was on call when we delivered. She is English, so I got to listen to a wonderful soothing accent while giving birth. She exudes compassion and love -- it was really a blessing to deliver with her.
Kaiya's first time holding Kaleb. She was a trooper -- I could see her arm getting tired and wanting to drop instead of holding his head up. But she did great -- although he was quite miserable.

Took this picture this morning. Kaleb and I were snuggling in bed and Kaiya couldn't miss out. She wanted to hold Kaleb lying down. Very cute...

The Birth

I kind of jumped from posting about "going to have him" to the pictures of him being here. So here is how Saturday unfolded. We finally got out the door and on our way to the birth center around 3:45 p.m. We arrived and got settled in our room. Jennie came in and examined me and found that I was 5 cm and she stretched me to 6 cm. She gave me some homeopathic pills to take every 15 minutes and instructed me to walk for an hour or so. We decided to drive to a mall a few minutes away (who does this a week away from Christmas on a Saturday night?). But we did... ate some good dinner and walked the mall. By the time we returned to the center I was having contractions every 5 minutes. She examined me again -- I was still 6 cm, but she stretched me to 7 cm. We went outside and walked some more. From 6-8 p.m. my contractions stayed between 4-5 minutes apart. There was another couple giving birth at the center too and Jennie was the only midwife. So we told her that we would just wait until the other couple delivered before we had my water broken. We knew the other couple had been there longer and they were getting close to her being able to push so thought it would be best to have them go first. :)

While we were waiting for Jennie, I had a few contractions that led me to think I might break my water naturally. So I decided to wait another hour to see what happened. At midnight I gave her the okay to break my water. A few minutes after my water broke, the contractions bumped up to 2 minutes apart and very strong. The tub of water could not fill up quick enough. I kept glancing over from my bed to see if it was ready for me to get in it. Once I got in the water it was immediately relaxing. The water was very warm and my first contraction in the water felt amazingly less intense than when I was on the bed. I remember looking at Tony and Ruthie and saying, "I think this one is going to be a cake walk compared to Kaiya." I had a few more contractions and then felt like it was time to push. I pushed for 15 minutes and he was born at 1:01 a.m. I was shocked when I realized that he was practically out. When I had Kaiya I pushed for an hour and a half. So during the time I pushed with Kaleb I was thinking that it was only the beginning. I hadn't even bothered to look and see how much progress I was making because I thought I still had a long way to go. When I did finally look and saw the top half of the head out, I remember asking -- is that the head? Tony and Jennie were like -- Yeah - you are so close. I'm thinking -- Well, why didn't you tell me sooner! And I mustered up one more big push and he was out.

He came out really quiet. No screaming or crying. He was also really really clean because of the water. He had his hair (or lack of) washed, but that was it. He didn't need the full bath. The other thing I enjoyed about this experience was that there wasn't anyone immediately ready to whisk him away for weighing or measuring, etc. We did not cut the cord right away, but I was able to just snuggle him until the cord emptied. Everything was more relaxed and moved at a slower pace.

I also loved being able to go home so quickly. It was nice to be in our own space and not having nurses come in every hour to check my blood pressure or ask me how many wet/dirty diapers we have had, how long did I feed him, taking our temperatures, etc. And I think with Kaiya it has been better that we have been home. She really hardly missed us because we were home first thing in the morning.

So... that's the scoop. I'd do it again -- definitely in the water -- and definitely at a birth center. Who knows... maybe we'll have the next one at home. :)